Abstract:

The main objective of the paper is to identify the information needs of managers with respect to the financial safety in small and medium-sized enterprises as well as the root causes of financial problems in practice, and to propose the foundations for intelligent analytical approach that could be useful for managers in SMEs. Methodology adopted in the paper is built on the structured interview in the focus group of 23 managers in SMEs from various industries. The leading theme of the study is information support for financial safety management in SMEs. The interview was conducted in two parts. The first part has a structured approach and respondents were asked to answer questions with suggested answers referring to their information needs on company financial safety. Managerial actions that should be covered by detailed in-depth decision-making analysis were also investigated. Second part included two open questions and managers were encouraged to propose their own original answers with respect to reasons of financial problems and opportunity to support them in decision-making by means of intelligent analytical approach. The result of the conducted interview gave a significant insight into the managerial needs and expectations. Results of the study clearly demonstrate that although managers of SMEs have limited resources they are aware of the necessity to use prospective analytical information to reduce financial risks and actively manage financial safety of the company. The study shows that there is a need for the development of intelligent systems supporting financial safety management. As a result of this study we present the essential empirical conclusions referring to information needs that may serve as a basis for intelligent system development as well as components to be included in the system based on analytical tool desired by SMEs managers.